Sedimentary Features of Tsunami Deposits in Carbonate-Dominated Beach Environments: A Case Study from the 25 October 2010 Mentawai Tsunami

This study provides a case history of tsunami deposition in a carbonate-dominated environmental setting. We present the results of a sedimentological investigation conducted on deposits formed by the 25 October 2010 Mentawai Island Tsunami and report on deposits analyzed at three sites on North Pagai Island: Sabeu Gunggung, Macaroni Resort, and Tumalei. The deposits are mainly composed of medium to coarse sand-sized fragments of corals, shells and foraminifera, with thickness ranging from 3 to 26 cm. The deposits consist of two to five layers, with fining-upward trends dominating. Local topography noticeably affects the thickness, number of layers, and distribution of tsunami deposits. The foraminiferal assemblage and diversity vary at each sample point, along transect and between different transects. Based on the foraminiferal content, most of the deposit material likely came from shallower depths. In addition, density distribution of the tsunami deposit material exhibits some degree of variability in terms of the range of densities in each sample and the trend of the overall density along each transect. In contrast to heavy mineral-dominated deposits, the density of carbonate grains as a function of size may be an important consideration when carbonate-dominated deposits are used to interpret hydraulic conditions that created a particular tsunami deposit. Since there are relatively few studies of tsunami deposits in carbonate-dominated environmental settings such as the Mentawai Islands, our study provides a useful case history of tsunami deposition in such an environmental setting.     

Without power? Landslide inventories in the face of climate change

Projected scenarios of climate change involve general predictions about the likely changes to the magnitude and frequency of landslides, particularly as a consequence of altered precipitation and temperature regimes. Whether such landslide response to contemporary or past climate change may be captured in differing scaling statistics of landslide size distributions and the erosion rates derived thereof remains debated. We test this notion with simple Monte Carlo and bootstrap simulations of statistical models commonly used to characterize empirical landslide size distributions. Our results show that significant changes to total volumes contained in such inventories may be masked by statistically indistinguishable scaling parameters, critically depending on, among others, the size of the largest of landslides recorded. Conversely, comparable model parameter values may obscure significant, i.e. more than twofold, changes to landslide occurrence, and thus inferred rates of hillslope denudation and sediment delivery to drainage networks. A time series of some of Earth's largest mass movements reveals clustering near and partly before the last glacial‐interglacial transition and a distinct step‐over from white noise to temporal clustering around this period. However, elucidating whether this is a distinct signal of first‐order climate‐change impact on slope stability or simply coincides with a transition from short‐term statistical noise to long‐term steady‐state conditions remains an important research challenge. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Field measurements of absolute gravity in East Antarctica

Abstract This paper reports the results of field-based absolute gravity measurements aimed at detecting gravity change and crustal displacement caused by glacial isostatic adjustment. The project was initiated within the framework of the 53rd Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition （JARE53）. Absolute gravity measurements, together with GPS measurements, were planned at several outcrops along the Prince Olav Coast and S6ya Coast of East Antarctica, including at Syowa Station. Since the icebreaker Shirase （AGB 5003） was unable to moor alongside Syowa Station, operations were somewhat restricted during JARE53. However, despite this setback, we were able to complete measurements at two sites： Syowa Station and Langhovde. The absolute gravity value at the Syowa Station IAGBN （A） site, observed using an FG-5 absolute gravimeter （serial number 210; FG-5 #210）, was 982 524 322.7＋0.1 ktGal, and the gravity change rate at the beginning of 2012 was -0.26 gGal.a-1. An absolute gravity value of 982 535 584.2~0.7 ktGal was obtained using a portable A-10 absolute gravimeter （serial number 017; A-10 #017） at the newly located site AGS01 in Langhovde.     

Hydraulic and numerical study on the generation of a subaqueous landslide-induced tsunami along the coast

By carrying out the hydraulic experiments in a one-dimensional open channel and two-dimensional basin, we clarified the process of how a landslide on a uniform slope causes the generation of a tsunami. The effect of the interactive force that occurs between the debris flow layer and the tsunami is significant in the generation of a tsunami. The continuous flow of the debris into the water makes the wave period of the tsunami short. The present experiments apply numerical simulation using the two-layer model with shear stress models on the bottom and interface, and the results are compared. The simulated debris flow shows good agreement with the measured results and ensures the rushing process into the water. We propose that the model use a Manning coefficient of 0.01 for the smooth slope and 0.015 for the rough slope, and a horizontal viscosity of 0.01 m²/s for the landslide; an interactive force of 0.2 for each layer is recommended. The dispersion effect should be included in the numerical model for the propagation from the shore.     

Combination of temporal gravity variations resulting from superconducting gravimeter (SG) recordings, GRACE satellite observations and global hydrology models

Gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE)-derived temporal gravity variations can be resolved within the μgal (10^?8 m/s ²) range, if we restrict the spatial resolution to a half-wavelength of about 1,500 km and the temporal resolution to 1 month. For independent validations, a comparison with ground gravity measurements is of fundamental interest. For this purpose, data from selected superconducting gravimeter (SG) stations forming the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) network are used. For comparison, GRACE and SG data sets are reduced for the same known gravity effects due to Earth and ocean tides, pole tide and atmosphere. In contrast to GRACE, the SG also measures gravity changes due to load-induced height variations, whereas the satellite-derived models do not contain this effect. For a solid spherical harmonic decomposition of the gravity field, this load effect can be modelled using degree-dependent load Love numbers, and this effect is added to the satellite-derived models. After reduction of the known gravity effects from both data sets, the remaining part can mainly be assumed to represent mass changes in terrestrial water storage. Therefore, gravity variations derived from global hydrological models are applied to verify the SG and GRACE results. Conversely, the hydrology models can be checked by gravity variations determined from GRACE and SG observations. Such a comparison shows quite a good agreement between gravity variation derived from SG, GRACE and hydrology models, which lie within their estimated error limits for most of the studied SG locations. It is shown that the SG gravity variations (point measurements) are representative for a large area within the accuracy, if local gravity effects are removed. The individual discrepancies between SG, GRACE and hydrology models may give hints for further investigations of each data series.     

Experimental investigation of conditions of lateral shear reinforcements in RC columns accompanied by buckling of longitudinal bars

This study presents a cyclic load test of four RC columns to obtain data on stresses and strains on lateral shear‐reinforcing bars that contact buckled longitudinal reinforcing bars. The specimens include columns laterally jacketed with all‐elastic fibre‐reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets. The buckling lengths and modes in the longitudinal bars of the four column specimens stabilized at a buckling deflection (= lateral deformation of buckled longitudinal bar) from 0.3 to 0.6 mm. The yield portion ratio r_by of shear reinforcement around the buckled longitudinal bars was introduced as an index of the development of buckling conditions. Here, the yield portion ratio r_by was defined as the ratio of the length of the region where the shear reinforcements yield l_by, to the buckling length l_b. The r_by values of the tested columns ranged from 0.45 to 0.76. The test results show that the buckling stress and the specific compressive stress of the longitudinal bars in the columns were smaller than those of the bare bars. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distribution of the geochemical signature caused by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami in Misawa harbor,northern Japan

Natural Hazards - The 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami left a characteristic geochemical signature in the sediments of the Misawa harbor on the Aomori coastline (northern Japan), not only in vertical...     

The 3.4-μm absorption feature towards three obscured active galactic nuclei

The results of 3–4-μm spectroscopy towards the nuclei of NGC 3094, 7172, and 7479 are reported. In ground-based 8–13-μm spectra, all the sources have strong absorption-like features at ∼10 μm, but they do not have detectable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission features. The 3.4-μm carbonaceous dust absorption features are detected towards all nuclei. NGC 3094 shows a detectable 3.3-μm PAH emission feature, while NGC 7172 and 7479 do not. Nuclear emission whose spectrum shows dust absorption features but no PAH emission features, is thought to be dominated by highly obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) activity. For NGC 7172, 7479, and three other such nuclei in the literature, we investigate the optical depth ratios between the 3.4-μm carbonaceous dust and 9.7-μm silicate dust absorption     The     ratios towards three highly obscured AGNs with face-on host galaxies are systematically larger than the ratios in the Galactic diffuse interstellar medium or the ratios for two highly obscured AGNs with edge-on host galaxies. We suggest that the larger ratios can be explained if the obscuring dust is so close to the central AGNs that a temperature gradient occurs in it. If this idea is correct, our results may provide spectroscopic evidence for the presence of the putative 'dusty tori' in the close vicinity of AGNs.